SuperSalmond Episode 3: Startup Scotland

In the run up to the election our good friends at Startacus offered some Startup Branding advice for an Independent Scotland. Here's my contribution to their advice...

Startacus Scotland 2.014

Mission Statement: "Doing Good while Having Fun" - I think this typify's what we have achieved so far and what we showcased at the Commonwealth Games... AND to remind ourselves not to take things too seriously. 

Build on things that work: Think Differently works. Innovation, creativity and fun work. And if you had a mission statement of "Do good while having fun" Who would want a King? Surely you'd "Think Different" and want a superhero? Kings rule and conquer, superheroes defend... maybe: The Defender of Hope! And fighting for hopeless causes? The organisation that thought differently and sent a call out to misfits in the past seems to have fared alright

“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” Apple Ad

We already have the early case study with Darth Labour guy who was "Just being silly"... Yeah, lady! Silly but effective! This is an ideal candidate for Gladwells book "David and Goliath:Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants"

Then there is the fact that we've suggested that Alex Salmond is the Steve Jobs of Startup politics, and what's Jobs advice to Stanford students? Stay foolish, stay hungry. I know a few foolish and (Unfortunately) hungry Scots

TagLine: The defender of Hope? We see what Edgar Guest, Seabiscuit and Jim "The Bulldog of Bergen" Brogan did to raise spirits during the depression, we saw how this brought people together, had them rooting for these underdogs and who helped out where they could.

Whether a #VoteYes or #VoteNo hope we can see the funny side of this
pre-Indyref comparison with Edgar Guests poem "Can't"

We're Already Tired and Poor... What Difference Does One More Make?
We may not be able to take in "The huddled Masses" to Scotland, but we can invite them to join us online at #The45Plus to see if we can help them, whether in some small or significant way. Whether it's banter that cheers someone up, or tech connections that leads to Scotland developing and/or benefiting from the next Linux or ODesk... or see Scots collaborating on Innovcentive type problems.

What kind of game changing ideas have people who don't have a voice at the moment got? 

But we didn't win the election, so there's no point looking at this national branding stuff right? ;) But, then again... if we had won, would we be as FREE to have as much fun as this? We can kick our message of hope off by celebrating being the underdog, "losing," and laugh in the face of adversity. And try to get the same results... just in a different way.

Super Salmond Bringing Hope

Could the benefits of SuperSalmond reverberate and perpetuate in online and offline communities, positively affecting different groups?

ERM YES! ...LIKE YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE! 

Which politician is a 5 & 6 year olds going to be talking about in the playground? Toyota do this by allowing kids to customise Toyotas on sites like Second Life, this affects their purchasing decisions in the future.

But this isn't an electioneering thing.This is so important that we give vulnerable young people hope! This is vitally important! Our kids future could depend on it. See Lessons in Adversity: Teaching Resiliance

As you can see I believe that resilience should be celebrated in class and used to give people hope. Maybe "The Defender of Hope" will include this and encourage collaboration and reciprocity rings in the curriculum.

Through Super Salmond, hope would became a real asset to most, although a dangerous thing for other politicians, they'd become more accountable to the people, inplemented well this could be very difficult for other politicians to combat. See Super Salmond Episode 2: The YesAlliance Strikes Back

#YesAlliance Unite  

There could be a #YesAlliance signal sent out to tell your connections that there is a new Superhero in town he's the "The Defender of Hope" he wants to know where and when hope is needed and if something is hopeless. He wants to connect the country up so that no-one anywhere feels that a situation is hopeless. He wants 

1) Everyone to be connected on his special #The45Plus network, and to know if any one is in trouble. There will be someone else in his #YesAlliance network who can help.

2) He want's hear about any Hopeless ideas and, ideally, "A Solution of Hope" from #YesAlliance Citizens. Here is just one example:

Career Advice

#SuperSalmond This Is Hopeless: Everyone who reads this post The Worst Career Advice in the World will be agreeing and nodding but, as far as I can see, no one is doing much about it! 

#SuperSalmond Hopeful Ideas: Here you go...
1) Tell every teacher to read "Are you Smart Enough to Work at Google" or "Linchpin"
2) Read "How I hire" LinkedIn series" and/or open LinkedInU pages
3) Reach out to business to establish A Saturday Medical School... for High School Students: Meet Shayna Cody (Although, again, I have made suggestions around this based on Stanford's experiences, but still awaits development Business Development Ideas for FE)

That's just one example from a member of the #YesAlliance #The45Plus Network. I am DM'ing with some extremely kind, giving #The45Plus people who are clearly very intelligent, but they don't have a platform to share their ideas... and let's face it 

The Government doesn't always get it 100% right

What if Politicians were wrong? It would never happen, Would it? 

Then there's the fact

1) IBM and others do this with their Idea Jam events.
2) The potential of #The People" Crowdsourcing solutions with policy will have a number of significant benefits.
3) That this whole #SuperSalmond series came from a 30sec connection with Brave Many

More on developing this network up in 1-2 posts time. I think you'll be impressed. No problem if people are not, it will just another unread blog post that only took me a moment.Either way it's only taken 5 mins. Whether "Small act. Big Impact" or "Small act. No Impact" it's been a quick 5 min favour.

SuperSalmond Episode 2: The #YesAlliance Strikes Back

In Episode 1 of our exciting new #SuperSalmond series we reached out to our younger audience to see what young Digital Citizens thought of our comic idea. In today's installment we want to engage with Scifi fans and have put together this story.

The YesAlliance Strikes Back... To be A Nation Again? 

Maybe's Aye, Maybes Naw... But we'll have a laugh as we find out

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons,living or dead, is purely coincidental.

There has been an ongoing battle for some years now where the weak and vulnerable have tried to monitor, raise awareness of and, on occasion, battle the skulduggery of Scunner Cameron and the Minsters of the West.

This has been a tough battle as Scunner Cameron had A LOT of VERY POWERFUL friends.

They all went to the same school and cover for each other...no matter what.

We don't know much about these schools or what they teach. There are rumours that it's a school from another universe and they have a a portal to an oppressed planet. Supergran and others get some help with the formation of the #YesAlliance

#YesAlliance have a running battle with Scunner Cameron and the Minsters of the West cronies for centuries... there is ground won and lost on both sides... both suffer casualties.

We join the scene in the run up to the big battle.

Two Alliances are formed one with rebels who all want the same thing and work well together: The #YesAlliance.

The other is a rag tag of self centered individuals who are worried about their trade agreements and their jobs the #WTF-Are-You-Having-A-Laugh-Alliance

The Empire and the uneasy alliance: Strange Bedfellows

As the scene is set fir the final battle both camps prepare their troops.Some of the pre-battle plans are erm... well...erm, just plain silly! But Oh Man! What fun: Darth Labour Guy.

Despite a valiant battle #YesAlliance is defeated... largely due to the many and far reaching tentacles of the #WTFAlliance... But the #YesAlliance is OK with this, they have foreseen an alternative path #The45Plus flight path to a new trade routes and destination to Independence.

#WTFAlliance tactics work... But, as a muppet who is famous for telling bad jokes forewarns and foresees, that the price may be a heavy one. Scaring people to say "No, Thanks" and the promise of new trade federation routes has consequences and even the people who supported people with some alien ideas about vows and fair play. 

“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”

...And let me tell you something people, no matter which Galaxy we're talking about...suffering really hacks people off! Even the people who loved #WTFAlliance enough to believe the "Vows" when they were exchanged are suffering as much as anyone because of their lies.

Friends of #WTFAlliance who were thinking of leaving we told "Say, No thanks to this #YesAlliance, and I promise I'll change... I'll get help. We'll open a shared bank account"

Within a 24 hour period the love affair seemed to be over... It was as if the these guys were taking marital advice from a Sith Lord... or their fiends at Hologram Central as their was wooing, vows, marriage and divorce within 24 hours. I'm NOT KIDDING, check the similarities...

Union Romance: All in a days work -wooing, vows, marriage & divorce all at once

"C'mon Padme, you know it makes sense...
Stick with me babe, it'll be OK. We're Better Together" 

 

#WTFAlliance: Look what you made me do, I had to break my vows and she just wouldn't shut up about it!

#YesAlliance: You did this to yourself... we're not even here to fight you, we just want to restore balance to your force.

REMEMBER ME? BAWBAG! I said I'd be back! If Superman Defeated the Klu Klux Klan, Let's see what I can do with you. Hoy Darling! Do you see NOW why I wanted to know if you thought Scotland was more susceptible to  an alien invasion.

 

How you doin' Dave? Long Meeting? Need a Rest?

How will it all end? We haven't got a clue! But for lots of laughs join us at #The45Plus 

SuperSalmond Episode 1: A New Hope... Opportunities

The world was watching Scotland, during the Intergalactic Independence Referendum Battle between the British Empire and #YesAlliance. Boys and girls, I know that Mum and Dad might have been EVEN MORE boring than normal with all the YADDA YADDA politics, but politics is important it's politics and the government that shape so much of your life.

Let me give you one example that I think you would like. It is the Government that would decide if you get to play video games at school or not. Would you like to play Minecraft at School? What? Yes I know! Gaming can make a better world... but some governments seem to be a bit old and stuffy that they either don't know about this (Or maybe they don't want you to know).

SuperPolitics
The problem is that the Government has not spoken to you in a fun way. I would like to change that. During this referendum Scotland got a lot of new friends who got in touch with us... Including Superman.

Superman told Alex Salmond how he had beat some baddies in real life: How Superman Defeated the Klu Klux Klan. Superman asked the #YesAlliance

"What would happen if we took a goodie from real life to and made him into a cartoon superhero?"

Other Governments might think "That sounds great! I'd get a kick out of having super powers and being in a comic. The #YesAlliance don't think like this. We don't want lots of people to put lots of time to develop this only for people not to read it. So we want your help.. .Will you help us? Here's how:

What's up Willie: Is someone flipping a politician the bird? Is it a plain politician?
Need help from #SuperSalmond and his #YesAlliance!

Say "Yes" For #SuperSalmond & The #YesAlliance

SuperSalmond and his friends at the #YesAllinace are thinking of 4 missions that they need your help with;

1) Teaching you about politics, the government and how our decisions affect you through some fun comic stories, and

2) Bringing celebrities and cool people you know into your classrooms, people like The Simpsons, The Big Bang Theory,  Dara Obrien, The Doctor, Newround and Blue Peter

3) Letting us know if you, your friends and your teachers would be interested in appearing in the comic any time you are a good Digital Citizen and help your parents, teachers or the #YesAlliance?

4) If you would like to help come up with some stories and drawings for the comic?

Does this sound like a good idea? Do you have any other ideas apart from this? Will you help us boys and girls?

What to do if you said "YES!"
Tell your mum, dad and teachers to get onto their Social Media accouts and Tweet out to @HHFansUnited @HH_World @HHActors @MattGroening4 @daraobriain @iamwill @codeorg @A1Toys_com @newsundayherald @BeanoComic @Irn__Bru @Comic_Con @MCMExpo

And tell them you think this is a great idea, and that you would buy a comic with #SuperSalmond in it? We already have 2 superheroes already signed up

@Formula_MattD - Uni Science lecturer who already works with Marvel and DC to make Science Cool and 

@queenmaz6 just a normal Granny but has the spirit of SuperGran and is ready to take on Scunner Cameron... or was it Scunner Campbell? Was so long ago, I forget.


For Teachers

The way things are: I deal with educators and morale is low as educators have been affected by budget cuts, a lack of trust and criticism. How can you inspire kids if this is how you are treated, and how you feel? The UK governments initaitive of Every Child Matters was wrong, it should have been Every Teacher Matters.

So many government initiatives in education die because;

1) They are not developed with educators, and

2) If someone does not buy into a strategy they can easily kill a good idea with poor implementation. Just doing enough Vs going above and beyond to figure a way through the challenges.

The Way Things Could be (Like Next Week): Our Teachers and students know that they are valued and supported. (See Rock Star Educators)

1) They can connect with groups, people and brands that young people like who get involved in the class via social media.
2) Certain newspapers have a Celeb Columns Titled: The teacher who inspired me. and comics that feature students and teachers who go above and beyond.

Holding out for a Hero...Waiting for Superman

The documentary "Waiting for Superman" which looks at the US state education system. The reason for the title is because master educator asked his mum when he was a child "When will Superman get here?" when his mum asked "why?" he answered "Because only he can fix all these problems." He might be right...

I was given THE BEST definition of the role that Technology plays in education: Technology that saves educators on the admin tasks so they can be in the class for longer and technology that allows kids to learn outside of the class. If these Super Heros above join the #YesAlliance, how can they fail.

And then there's the issue that these guys will help make learning as addictive as drugs, this could achieve this. But we'll leave that for another episode

One Idea... One Scotland... Three Opportunities: That's StartUp Politics
Teachers & Students: New & Engaging Teaching Partnerships, More Support, Trust and Respect
Young People: Increased interest and popularity about packaging Politics for young people,
Scotish Business: New Partnerships, Ideas and Increased revenue